Diary Events
Forthcoming dates for Captain Swing Events & Presentations
Saturday 1st February 2025, 10:00am
'A little local disagreement at the Bear Inn'
A Swing Riots related talk given by David Warner of the Havant Swing Project Research Group.
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Venue: Harrison Room, The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre, 56 East Street, Havant, PO9 1BS.
Contact: For further details please email neil.spurgeon@bcs.org.uk
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The tale of an argument between two local Shortages in September 1830 that, had significant repercussions when, eight weeks later, agricultural labourers across the county boundary in Westbourne decided that the threshing machines in the Havant neighbourhood should be attacked to reflect their dissatisfaction with the status of their inadequate wages, with winter coming on and price inflation eating into their purchasing power.
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Parking and a good café on site. All welcome. No booking necessary.
Monday 3rd February, 9.30AM
Romsey & District U3A Architecture and Local History Group
‘Romsey & the SWING Riots’ Edward Fennell
Venue: Romsey Wisdom Centre
Contact: romsey.u3asite.uk/u3a-contact-form/?contact_id=4934​
Saturday 26th April, Time TBD
Hampshire Field Club
‘The SWING Riots and their Bicentenary Commemoration’ Edward Fennell
Venue: TBD​
Thursday 17th July, 7.00
‘The SWING RIOTS and the Genealogy of its Convicts’ Edward Fennell
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Venue: Memorial Hall, Littleton​
Contact: Sue Atrill, 07817 483 936
Previous events archive
Friday 17th January, 6.30-8.00 PM
Captain Swing Bicentenary Commemoration Reception - Hosted by The Mayor of Winchester, Cllr Russell Gordon Smith
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Venue: Abbey House, High Street, Winchester
An Invitation Only event
Images courtesy of Tim Underwood
Every year on or close to 13 October - English Language Day - the English Project holds a lecture to explore an aspect of the English Language. This year we have launched a new initiative - The Captain Swing Riots and the Grand Assize in Winchester of 1830 and the annual lecture connects with this period of our history.
We are delighted that the English Project annual lecture will be given by Professor Jane Hodson, an expert on the language and literature of this period.
Tickets cost £12 and include a pre-event glass of wine. You can book here.
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Finding Captain Swing: voice, protest and people in the 1830 riots
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In the early part of the nineteenth century poets and novelists provide evidence for a growing public interest in hearing the voices of the labouring poor. From being figures “out there” in the landscape, they begin - at least in some texts - to become people who might have perspectives and experiences worth listening to. These tentative developments were interrupted by the Swing Riots of 1830. Generally understood as a response to low wages, enclosure and mechanisation, a series of violent events broke out across the South-East of England, with threshing machines
smashed and ricks burned.
The symbolic name Captain Swing derives from threatening letters sent to landowners signed “SWING”. But where in the surviving official records, newspaper reports and letters can we find evidence of the voices of the rioters? In this talk Jane will explore the various sources that we have available for hearing directly of the lives and voices of ordinary people involved in the Swing riots, and consider what the imbalance of voices in the written record means for how we understand these events.
She also considers the potential for creative works to provide the missing voices, both at the time as with the fictional autobiography The Life and History of Swing, the Kent Rick-burner (1831) and more recently works such as Beatric Parvin's Captain Swing and the Blacksmith (2018).
Jane Hodson is Professor of English Language and Literature and Head of School at the University of Sheffield. Her research interests lie at the interface of language and literature, and she is particularly concerned with ways in language relates to issues of representation and power. Her first book, Language and revolution in Burke, Wollstonecraft, Paine, and Godwin (2007), was about the role of language in the French Revolution debate.
Her current research focuses on the ways in which nonstandard varieties of English are represented in literature, film and television. Recent publications include Dialect in Literature and Film (2014), the edited volume Dialect and Literature in the Long Nineteenth Century (2017) and articles in English Language and Linguistics and Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics.
Finding Captain Swing: voice, protest and people in the 1830 riots by Professor Jane Hodson
Friday 11th October 2024, 17:30 - 19:00, University of Winchester
English Language Day Talk
The Captain Swing Bicentenary Commemoration programme for Winchester Heritage Open Days
Saturday 14th September 2024,11:00-12:30 at The United Reform Church Jewry Street, Winchester SO23 8RZ
Commemorating The Swing Riots in Hampshire:
Communities uncovering their past
WELCOME by Professor Bill Lucas, Chair of the English Project
A short overview of the history of the SWING RIOTS and the Bicentenary Commemoration: What is it about, what is it aiming to do, what has been achieved so far and how you can get involved?
THE LANGUAGE OF THE SWING RIOTERS’ by Professor Christopher Mulvey, English Project
The significance of class, region and education on language in 1830 and how it can be appreciated and mined for projects today.
RESEARCHING YOUR LOCAL CAPTAIN SWING STORY
A report on how a community history group in Havant is researching its local SWING detail for the new SWING website presented by Havant Co-ordinators Penny Munday and Neil Spurgeon
ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY IN CAPTAIN SWING AND HIS ERA THROUGH DRAMA
Experienced theatre director/producer Liz Weston discusses how communities can engage with history through locally-based/researched drama as exemplified by Droxford in the story of ‘William Burgess versus William Cobbett'. There will be a short read-through of this work in progress.
WOMEN OF THE SWING RIOTS: '’The Plea of Mary Artlett' by Rachel O’Neill
What happened to the women left behind when the Swing Rioters were transported? How did they support themselves? What was the emotional effect on families? In this monologue, a loving mother writes to her son-in-law, giving him some tragic news. This short drama is based on a real letter sent to New South Wales from Andover in 1833. Actor Karen Fitzsimmons performs the monologue which has been written and directed by Rachel O'Neill from 2TimeTheatre. Previous productions staged as part of HODs include Sir Walter's Women, Tilly and the Spitfires and Pies and Prejudice (written by Cecily O'Neill).
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RESEARCHING THE GENEALOGY OF THE SWING RIOTERS
Lorraine Whale and Fiona Ranger of the Hampshire Genealogical Society introduce the exciting possibilities of investigating the family histories of the Swing Rioters as evidenced recently on television by Leslie Manville on ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ www.hgs-familyhistory.com
FINAL COMMENTS: LOOKING AHEAD TO FUTURE WORK by Bill Lucas
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ABOUT THE ENGLISH PROJECT
The English Project was established in 2006 to promote awareness and understanding of the unfolding global story of the English language in all its varieties – past, present and future. We try to present ideas about English in an intelligent, entertaining, inclusive and interactive way notably by focusing on specific events and seeing how the language changed in response.
For more go to www.englishproject.org
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The English Projects presents a ‘Fringe’ Winchester HODS event 2024 as part of itsThe Captain Swing Bicentenary Commemoration
The Swing Riots: From village unrest to execution in Winchester Gaol
Saturday 7th September 2024, 11.00-12.30 at St Paul’s, Fulflood
Riots orchestrated under the name of Captain Swing devastated southern rural England in the Autumn of 1830. Hampshire was particularly badly hit. In this presentation we look at some aspects of the riots themselves and then how the authorities, co-ordinated by the Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Wellington restored order and organised a Grand Assize in the Great Hall, Winchester to punish the rioters. Executions and transportation followed. Some parallels may be seen with recent events in England.
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The Programme
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Music from !nVerse English Idyll
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Welcome and overview of the SWING RIOTS and the Bicentenary, Prof Bill Lucas
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The English language and the judicial process, Prof Christopher Mulvey
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Riot report: East Stratton and the Barings Following recent research into the Baring papers local historian Patrick Craze presents a fresh view of the tragic encounter between Bingham Baring and Henry Cook of Micheldever which resulted in Cook's execution
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Music from !nVerse : Turn Again Pitiless Farmer
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The Church and Captain Swing, Martin Coppen
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Captain Swing and the development of Policing, Dr John Blockley
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The Economics of the Tithe system, Dr Helen Paul
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Music from !nVerse Force for Change Transportation
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Legal Brief: How the Grand Assize juries functioned, William Sclater
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The Grand Assize verbatim
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Advice to Grand Jurors, Rose Burns
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Music from !nVerse Captain’s Command Child’s Lullaby
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The sentencing to Death of Henry Cook and Rbt. Holdaway Chris Wing
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Music from !nVerse Turn Again Home Boys Home
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Closing remarks Prof Bill Lucas
The English Project welcomes you to
'A Message to Micheldever'
Saturday 22nd June 2024,19:30 at St. Mary’s Church, Micheldever
A programme of poetry, prose and song to commemorate Henry Cook, the youngest Swing Rioter to be executed in Winchester gaol in January 1831 and whose body lies adjacent to the precincts of St. Mary’s. The poem MICHELDEVER by J. R. Ackerley, literary editor of The Listener, was dedicated to him.
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Presented by The Captain Swing Riots Bicentenary Commemoration (An initiative from the English Project) Performed by Sam Collings, Nigel Bradshaw, and Prof. Bill Lucas and with narration by Prof. Christopher Mulvey. Music by representatives of the Waynflete Singers. Directed by: Nigel Bradshaw Produced by: Edward Fennell
The Captain Swing Riots exploded across southern England in the Summer and Autumn of 1830 and involved many thousands of agricultural labourers and their allies. They followed a decade of rural decline compounded by the arrival of new technology such as the threshing machine. In Hampshire there were more than 70 riots which were vigorously put down by the Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Wellington. A Grand Assize was held in the Great Hall in Winchester in December 1830 in which 300 men were tried in a fortnight. Executions, including that of Henry Cook, and transportation followed.
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The Programme
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WELCOME by Professor Bill Lucas on behalf of the English Project
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MICHELDEVER by J.R. ACKERLEY (1896-1967) Sam Collings
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REFLECTIONS ON THE RIOTS AND SUBSEQUENT PUNISHMENTS by WILLIAM COBBETT (1765 - 1835) Nigel Bradshaw
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A PETITION TO THE KING, WILLIAM IV (1830) Bill Lucas
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from THE AGE OF BRONZE by LORD BYRON (1788 -1824)
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ODE TO AUTUMN by JOHN KEATS (1795-1821)
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from THE SEASONS by THOMAS HOLCROFT (1745-1809)
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from WILD NATURE by CHARLES NEWTON
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from RURAL RIDES by WILLIAM COBBETT
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INTERVAL Drinks will be available. One WC may be!
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from THE VILLAGE by GEORGE CRABBE (1754 -1832)
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from THE THRESHER’S LABOUR by STEPHEN DUCK (1705-56)
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from MORES by JOHN CLARE (1793-1864)
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from THE DESERTED VILLAGE by OLIVER GOLDSMITH (1728-1774)
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THE RIOT by HANNAH MORE (1745 -1833)
The Performers
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SAMUEL COLLINGS is regarded as one of the UK’s most versatile actors and can be found on stage, screen, radio and voicing audiobooks. He is perhaps best known for his performance in the role of King Zedekiah in the Emmy Award-winning drama The Bible but is also well-known for his work with the BBC and at Shakespeare’s Globe and many other venues around the UK and the US including at the Salisbury Playhouse. On the TV he has appeared in popular favourites such as The Bill and Holby City.
NIGEL BRADSHAW has many hats including actor, director, producer and voice-over artist worn across three continents. Highlights include work in London’s West End at the Duke of Yorks and Ambassadors plus the Royal Court and Regents Park. He has toured the world with the British Council in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. On television he played in the long running soap Prisoner Cell Block H.
BILL LUCAS is an education reformer, researcher and prolific author on subjects including creativity, change, leadership, learning and English language and literature. He is Professor of Learning at the University of Winchester and Chair of the English Project. With Christopher Mulvey he is the author of A History of the English Language in 100 Places (2013).
CHRISTOPHER MULVEY is a graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford, and of Columbia University, New York. His books include Anglo-American Landscapes (1983) and, with Bill Lucas, A History of the English Language in 100 Places (2013). He is a Trustee of the English Project and Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Winchester.
THE SINGERS SUSAN MILLIN, JOHN LUNT, CATHERINE TUCKER and DAVID REECE are members of the Waynflete Singers, one of the South’s leading choral societies, in addition to other vocal ensembles. Whilst they are all based around Winchester, where the Wayneflete singers perform in the Cathedral several times each year, their singing has taken them to venues as diverse as the Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Festival Hall, The Sage in Gateshead and the churches and cathedrals of Florence and Paris.
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The English Project
THE ENGLISH PROJECT’s mission is to explore and explain the English Language in order to educate and entertain the English speaker. The Project aims to enable all who use English to gain a better understanding of their own version of English. The Captain Swing Bicentenary Commemoration is an initiative from the English Project to investigate the language of political debate, law, culture and social interaction in the critical (but often overlooked) period of the 1820/30s. It is coordinating a wide range of community-based activities in the lead up to the Bicentenary of the Captain Swing Riots (in Hampshire) culminating in a re-enactment of the ‘Swing’ Grand Assize in Winchester Great Hall in 2030. (www.englishproject.org / edward.fennell@yahoo.co.uk)
With thanks to the parish community of St. Mary’s, Micheldever and in particular to Louise Keys
THE CHORUS TO ‘THE MICHELDEVER LADS’
The mob, such a mob, you have never seen before,
And if we live this hundred years, you never will no more.
The English Project presents
The Captain Swing Bicentenary Commemoration programme for Launch Event - Winchester Heritage Open Days
Saturday 16th September 2023, 10:00-10:30 at Grand Jury Room, The Castle, Winchester
The Captain Swing Riots in the Autumn of 1830 are a forgotten landmark in Hampshire history. Following agitation in more than sixty villages, a Grand Assize was convened in Winchester Great Hall by the Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Wellington, at which 300 men were tried. Many were then sentenced to transportation or, in some cases, execution with a devastating effect on local communities.
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The goal of the Bicentenary Commemoration is to raise awareness of the Riots and the complex issues behind them (many of which remain relevant today) and then, in 2030, to stage a series of community-based activities in the locations where the original events took place – including a re-enactment of the Grand Assize itself.
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This ‘Launch event’ for the Bicentenary Commemoration is taking place, highly symbolically, in the Grand Jury Room used for the Grand Assize on 18 December 1830. As a Patron of the commemorative project, Cllr. Jane Rutter, comments, “History often seems ‘other’ - about distant times and distant monarchs. The SWING project really brings history to life with a bang - relevant to today’s issues, very real in its impact on local communities and gruesome and inhuman outcome. A great opportunity for local villages to research how their own communities were affected by the riots and their repercussions - I will certainly be encouraging the Worthys History Group to see what the impact was on our villages.”
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WELCOME TO THE GRAND JURY ROOM Rose Burns, Barrister, 12CP Southampton
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INTRODUCTION by PROFESSOR BILL LUCAS (Chairman of the English Project)
The English Project and the Captain Swing Riots: What’s the link? -
THE VISION for the PROJECT by EDWARD FENNELL (Project Coordinator)
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SCOPING THE ‘HISTORICAL LECTURE PROGRAMME’ by Dr HELEN PAUL (University of Southampton)
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ENDORSEMENTS OF THE PROJECT by PATRONS
- Cllr. Martin Tod, Leader of Winchester City Council,
- Prof. John Denham, Centre for English Identity and Politics, University of Southampton,
- Tony Williams, Consultant, Jomati Consultants LLP -
SUPPORT FOR THE PROJECT BY HHJ ANGELA MORRIS, THE RECORDER OF WINCHESTER
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CONCLUSION FOR ACTION By BILL LUCAS
For more visit: www.englishproject.org
The English Project presents
The Captain Swing Bicentenary Commemoration programme for Taster Event - Winchester Heritage Open Days
Saturday 16th September 2023, 10:45-12:00 at Council Chamber, The Castle, Winchester
Further reading
Diary Events
Introduction – Rose Burns, Barrister, 12CP Southampton
Agricultural Distress in Southern England in the 1820s – Dr. Helen Paul, University of Southampton
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The Language of Swing – Prof. Christopher Mulvey, University of Winchester and the English Project
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An evening with the Radical & Musical Society, Sutton Scotney
featuring readings from William Cobbett by Nigel Bradshaw as the radical journalist and folk songs of the period by the CHOP STICKS SCRATCH BAND
A Cobbett Conspiracy? – Barton Stacey and the Petition to the King – presented by Stuart Rippon, Chair, Barton Stacey Local History Group (bartonstaceyhistory.co.uk)
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The Riots Erupt – Events in St. Mary Bourne in November 1830 presented by Canon Martin Coppen (Vicar of St Mary Bourne, 1988-2013, and successor in office to Revd William Easton, vicar of Hurstbourne Priors and the Chapelry of St Mary Bourne, 1817-1834.)
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The Special Assize – The Sentence is Death performed by Christopher Wing, Barrister, Drystone Chambers, as the presiding judge, Baron Vaughan; Stephen Hall as the Clerk; and Freddie Scott, Frankie Anderson and Stuart Hibbard as the condemned men (all University of Winchester).
The Owslebury Boys – Contemporary folk song of SWING prisoners CHOP STICKS SCRATCH BAND
ROUND-UP and INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE by Professor Bill Lucas, Chair, The English Project.
For more visit: www.englishproject.org